Marianas environmental leaders have joined a growing chorus of Pacific voices condemning the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's decision to advance a proposed offshore mineral lease sale in federal waters off American Samoa, saying the plan threatens the region's sacred ocean, marine ecosystems and the rights of island communities.
The proposal would mark the first potential offshore critical minerals lease sale in American Samoa if the federal process moves forward.
Maria Hernandez of the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance in Guam said the proposal underscored the unequal treatment of U.S. territories.
"When decisions about our communities' sacred waters and ecosystems are made in Washington without equal representation, it exposes the undemocratic system imposed across the U.S. territories."
"Our voices deserve to be heard," she said. "We refuse to be treated as a box to check instead of partners in decisions that affect our livelihoods and the future of our children. The people of the Marianas stand with American Samoa. Hands off our sacred seabed. Prutehi i Mattingan."
Friends of the Mariana Trench chair Sheila Babauta said Pacific Islanders had consistently rejected offshore mineral extraction.
"Communities across the Pacific have made their voices clear: our ocean is not for sale."
She said BOEM was advancing "a proposal that puts the interests of an extractive industry ahead of the people who depend on the ocean for our culture, livelihoods, and way of life," urging Americans to support Pacific Islanders' call for stewardship instead of extraction.
Angelo Villagomez of the Center for American Progress said the proposal "is out of step with what communities actually want."
He said BOEM should listen to Pacific communities rather than advance "a lease sale that lacks broad public support," adding that protecting the ocean "is not a territorial issue. It's an American issue."
The criticism followed BOEM's announcement that it had issued a Proposed Leasing Notice for the American Samoa Outer Continental Shelf Pacific Mineral Lease Sale 1, a key step toward a proposed lease sale on Nov. 19.
Under the process, American Samoa Gov. Pulaali'i Nikolao Pula has 60 days to review and comment before BOEM may issue a Final Leasing Notice. The agency said publication of the notice does not guarantee that a lease sale will occur or that any exploration or mineral collection activities will ultimately take place.
American Samoa advocate Dr. Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka said the issue was about preserving Pacific identity.
"They can schedule a lease sale. They cannot lease our identity."
She added: "The moana has never been just a place on a map or minerals beneath the sea floor. The moana is our first teacher, our source of life, and our greatest inheritance."
"Our home is not for sale," she said.
Adi Martinez Roman of Right to Democracy in Puerto Rico likewise opposed the proposal, saying the ocean "is more than a resource to be extracted. It is a sacred ocean space that connects us to our culture, identity, and future."
BOEM, through the Marine Minerals Administration, said the Proposed Leasing Notice advances the federal leasing process for offshore critical minerals needed to strengthen U.S. supply chains.
Acting MMA director Matt Giacona said, "Critical minerals have become a strategic asset in global competition, and China's dominance in the supply of many of these materials creates unacceptable risks for America's energy, defense and manufacturing sectors."
He said any successful lessee would be required to make "every reasonable effort" to hire American Samoans, use local businesses and make use of the Port of Pago Pago.
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